


rise above

by oh-boleyn (scrxamitout)



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Anna can see ghosts, Anna of Cleves-centric, Blood and Violence, Gen, Ghost Au!, Ghosts, Light Angst, Suicide Attempt, but it's actually murder attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 13:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22497088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrxamitout/pseuds/oh-boleyn
Summary: “Really? You can come back from the dead, reincarnate, live with the other five ex-wives of your husband, form a pop band and still you don’t think you can see ghosts?”orAnna can see ghosts
Comments: 4
Kudos: 60





	rise above

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I haven't post in so long, but I wanted to finish this and then I thought it might be better as a two shot thing. I don't know when the second part will be posted but probably sooner rather than later (in the course of the week).

“This can’t be real.”

“Really? You can come back from the dead, reincarnate, live with the other five ex-wives of your husband, form a pop band and still you don’t think you can see ghosts?”

Anna is watching with careful eyes her sister, Amalia, sitting on the other side of the bed.

“Fair point.” She says, after trying to wrap her mind on the new concept.

“I know.” Amalia laughs, pleased with herself.

“Why now, though? I have been back for almost six months, why can I see you just now?” She is curious, who wouldn’t be if suddenly a ghost shows on your bed.

“You probably saw spirits, but assumed they were just weird looking people or another stranger. Most spirits vanish after some time, when they put a closure to their lives.”

“What do you mean?” Anna is growing more and more confused by the second.

“I don’t have the time to be honest, but I need your help.” Amalia states. “After that I can try to explain, now, get up.”

“Why should I follow you?” Anna sits straighter.

“Because I am your sister, and because I say so. Aren’t you curious?”

Anna huffs, giving Amalia a nasty look while standing up. She grabs comfortable clothes and asks her sister to turn around, which she commands.

“Ready? Come with me.”

The fourth queen starts following the ghost, who crosses the closed door.

Of course, ghosts are like that.

She opens the door and goes through the hall, and down the stairs.

“Anna?” A voice comes from the kitchen. “What are you doing awake?”

“Don’t tell her you can see me.” Amalia orders.

“Couldn’t sleep, I was going to try and go for a walk.” She shows the keys on her hand. “And you, Boleyn?”

The girl looks incredibly tired, bags under her eyes and hollow eyes. Her lips are dry without any lipstick to cover them, and the twitching of her hands show anxiety. She is wearing a dark green pullover and black leggings, with her hair up in a messy bun. Really a post-midnight look.

“Stayed up watching High School Musical.” Boleyn smiles.

“Lie.” Amalia says. “Cut the chat, we have to go.”

“Anna, are you okay? You are staring at nothing.” Anne moves forward, almost touching Amalia.

“Yes, just thinking about those movies, I don’t get why Kat and you like them so much.” Her sister starts moving towards the door. “I will be back soon, call me if you need anything.”

“Will do.” Boleyn waves her hand. “Bye, be careful!”

The Cleves sisters finally step out of the house, into the cold London night.

“Why can’t I tell her about me being able to see you?” Anna asks, her sister keeps walking.

“It’s a risk we can’t afford, bad things are coming, and we need to know what are the dangers before we act.”

“What do you mean with danger? What is happening?”

The youngest sister doesn’t speak a word, instead keeps walking. There are almost no people on the streets, except for one or two every five blocks. Anna wonders if they are alive, or if they are recently deceased ghosts. She wishes she had a way to know.

The streets of London had changed a lot with the time. When the queens arrived, it was just so much. So much noise, and buildings and people. They slowly but surely got used to it, to the modern world and most importantly to be alive again, something none of them could imagine. Death was supposed to be final, not just a blink where you appeared almost five hundred years later.

Amalia stops once they get to the Tower Bridge. The river is reflecting lights, and Anna almost stops to contemplate the view, but retreats once she sees her sister pointing out her finger, signaling the bridge. There are two shadows, but Anna can’t recognize any other thing. When her sister starts running, she follows, legs acting by themselves in a sudden urgent way. She gets closer before realizing one of the shadows is Bess.

Bess, who had been her lady-in-waiting and currently worked with them on the band. Who had been just as victim as any other queen when Henry took her as his mistress. Anna sometimes wondered how she hold up, always caring and helping others, while knowing her life was not the happiest. She was not near what the fourth queen remembered, a mature woman clever than anyone else in the room, who with her witty manners could enchant men and women alike.

“Amalia, help!” A young voice screams, snapping Anna back to reality.

“I’m coming!” Her sister shouts back. “Quickly Anna.”

She gets closer, Bess is walking a straight line, going slowly but surely to the river. She is going to jump, Anna comprehends, now running towards the woman.

“Who is he?” Cleves asks, confused about the second shadow, who is in fact still a shadow.

It’s a masculine silhouette, that much she can be sure. But it doesn’t have a face, nor clothes. It’s just a black blur, that from time to time when it moves fast it’s lines smear. He is not human, nor a ghost, Anna can anticipate.

“He shouldn’t be here, Anna I need you to take Bess, Henry come with me.”

The German runs to her friend, while her sister and Henry get closer to the shadow. She tries to hold her shoulders but the woman refuses, trying to get to the river at any cost.

“Bess? Elizabeth?” The woman is in a trance of sorts, not hearing and Anna is sure she is not even watching. “Elizabeth Blount?” Anna is trying her best to hold her and pin her down to the ground but she is still just moving. “Remember me? Anna of Cleves. You served as my lady-in-waiting. Remember the show? ‘We are Six’.”

Panic is slowly settling in her voice, something not so common for her. She was the strong one, she should be able to do something. Amalia and Henry are reciting some sort of poem or prayer, but the shadow is talking too. A weird noise which can’t be considered a voice.

Jump, jump, jump.

Anna can feel it, the constant advice.

“Who are you?” She finally asks, addressing directly the shadow. “What do you want?”

Her throat hurts, clearly, she screamed without realizing.

“Don’t speak Anna!” Amalia orders.

“What are you?” Anna keeps going, watching it directly.

In a sudden move the shadow gets in front of her, and it’s a dark void. It doesn’t even feel like a presence, just an empty space. A blackness that doesn’t make sense, like a hole in the universe.

“Who are you?” Cleves speaks again, voice almost breaking but still strong.

She blinks and it’s suddenly gone, without any other clue. Anna turns around rapidly, searching for her lady-in-waiting. Bessie stops walking and falls, legs giving up. But she doesn’t fall into the river, instead she hits cement.

“Mother!” Henry blabs.

Bessie. Henry. Mother.

“You are Henry Fitzroy.” Anna claims.

The young boy gives her a smile.

“Yes, your grace, my name is Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of the king, Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Earl of Nottingham.” He salutes.

“Stop talking you two.” Amalia says. “Henry your mother is okay.” She redirects her vision to her sister. “You,” she points her with her finger. “never do that again. You don’t know how deadly a shadow can be.”

“Care to explain me, then?” Anna raises her eyebrows. “What was it? Why was it hypnotic?”

“I’m afraid I have to go. We have to go.” She addresses the young duke. “I still need your help. I will send people to you, when the time comes you will know everything, I can assure you.”

The woman wraps her arms around her living sister, who feels just a coldness she is incapable to describe, but closes her eyes, taking in the affection. She hasn’t seen her in so long, it might as well be a dream she doesn’t want to let go.

When she opens her eyes again, Bessie is waking up.

“Where am I? Anna?” The lady in waiting is confused to say the least.

So am I, Anna thinks.

“I am pretty sure you had a concussion; I will take you home now.”

(…)

After the incident, Anna is still not sure it wasn’t some kind of hallucination. She tries to live her life as normal as it was before, but now every step she takes a feeling of unquietness follows her. She realizes that, in fact, there are ghosts. People who shouldn’t be in certain places. Trying to play it as normal is her biggest challenge, she can’t admit what was happening not to her fellow queens or ladies-in-waiting, but she has to keep the secret from other ghosts too.

It’s a Sunday morning when she realizes there are steps that come and go, but all the queens are sleeping, she makes sure of it before deciding to go downstairs, looking for who makes that noise.

There is a young woman, with red hair and tired eyes. She is walking from and to the kitchen constantly. When Anna catches her gestures, the realization hits.

“Morning, Mary.” She says, as if it were the most normal thing that ever happened to her.

She keeps walking, getting all she needs to prepare herself a coffee.

“What? You can see me?” The ex-queen inquires.

“Yes, I can see ghosts. What are you doing here?”

The smile over the red-haired just shows and grows. “I can’t believe it! You can see me!”

“I already told you that.”

“Sorry, it’s just… I feel like I have been here for so long. Four hundred, sixty-one years is a lot. And at first, I thought I knew what I had to do, but now I’m not sure of it.” She is rambling, something she certainly never did before in her life.

“What do you mean ‘had to do’?”

“You know, to… die.” She gives a side smile.

“I’m not understanding, Mary.” Anna finally sits down, and the ghost sits by her. “I just know ghosts exist. Amalia told me so, you know my sister, right?”

“Just heard of her. Nobody is too fond of me honestly. You know bloody Mary and all.” She sighs. “For what I understand, people have something to do, what is required. If you close everything you had to do while you were alive, that’s it, you can finally die and rest in peace and all that. If you don’t, you might get stuck up here, in a limbo, were you are trapped until you finally learn what you had to. Most people do it in a couple of years, not much. But you know, I have been here for so long. I think it has something to do with you. Not you precisely, but the six of you. I’m not sure.”

It makes sense. It’s basically what most people would think about dead, it’s nothing new if she can be honest. Still it doesn’t explain the shadow or hypnosis, or why they came back. Even when they decided to let things go and not think much about it, they still didn’t have an answer for that last one.

“Good morning Anna.” Katherine says, smiling.

“Morning, Howard. Want some coffee?” She stands up, getting ready to prepare another coffee.

“Yes please. With- “

“Sugar and milk, I got you.” She smiles.

Katherine sits while Mary stares at her.

“I was never fond of her, you know?” Aragon’s daughter comments.

“You are a lifesaver, Anna!” The young woman smiles.

“What are you doing awake so early?” The fourth queen wonders.

“Aragon and I decided to go to church. We haven’t been there regularly since our past life, and we miss it.”

“What? She and my mother?” Mary looks frightened, Anna does her best to ignore her.

“You always have to have faith in something, right?”

“Yes, I think so.” Anna answers. “How are things between you and Aragon?”

“It’s okay. We bonded over religion a little and it’s not as tense as it was at the beginning. I’m worried about Anne.”

“Ugh, I forget those two are cousins.”

“Why worried, honey?” Anna serves Katherine her coffee, full of milk and way too sweet for her liking, but Kit surely loves it.

“She doesn’t talk a lot, you know. I get it, we have a past, it’s true, but she does not like any of us except well, me.” Kat laughs. “It sounds so egocentrically, sorry.”

“I get it, it’s true. I don’t think she hates me, but I am sure she is not my biggest fan.” Anna grabs a bag of biscuits and leaves them in the table.

“She probably didn’t make up her mind about you, just that.” She grabs a biscuit and gives it a bite. “Can’t say the same about Jane and Parr, with Aragon is the other way around.”

“Don’t dare to portray my mother as the evil here, it’s obvious she is not going to love the woman who broke up her marriage and got me declared illegitimate!” Mary was clearly angry.

“I think Catherine just needs time, probably Anne too. They have a history after all.”

“Yes, you are right.”

Kat continued to eat her breakfast, finishing just in time for when Aragon informed they were leaving. Upon seeing her mother, Mary just sat straighter onto the chair, but said no other word. Anna was grateful since it meant ignoring her was easier. Once they left, it was only Jane in the house, since Parr and Boleyn usually woke up just before lunch.

“Are you okay, Anna?” The third queen asked.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You are just staring at the nothing, what are you thinking about?” Anna took a deep breath.

Don’t tell her.

“I’m just tired, I think I will go to my bedroom.”

Her bedroom was upstairs, the second to the left. She gave a glance to Katherine’s room before entering her own. Since her fellow queen was reincarnated, she loved pink and her room was a prove of it. Anna shakes her head, opening her door and letting herself fall in bed.

“I need a favour.” She tells Mary.

“Tell me.”

“Help me find Amalia, she told me she would send people to me, but still nobody showed up.” Anna decides to sit, facing her ex-stepdaughter. “Help her, and after that’s done, I will help you to find what is happening and what is your destiny.”

“I have one condition. Take care of my mother.”

“I will, is it a deal?”

“It’s a deal.”

(…)

“Anna, wake up!”

“What?”

“Wake up!”

Anna stood up on her bed as fast as she could.

She felt cold all over her, almost as if ice was dripping from her.

There was a young teenager, with blonde hair and bright eyes. He was pale, and skinnier than how she remembered.

“What the fuck Edward?”

“Is that how you talk to a king?” He laughed.

In all the years she knew the boy, his laugh was never so careless. He even looked happy, which is a extravagant way to describe a ghost. His clothes were old pyjamas, and something inside reprimanded herself for thinking about his death. Edward was so young, but have always been a sickish child. That’s why Henry remarried three times after having him, with the hope of getting another son to add to the line of succession.

“Don’t be a prick.” She commanded.

“It’s weird to see you so young, Anna.” He sat on the bed.

“It probably is, after all I’m twenty-two again.” She wanted to take his hand, but retreated, knowing better than to feel the coldness. “Last time I was this young, you were a newborn.”

“Yes, I was.” He looked down. “Amalia has told me to come here, she said you could help me.”

“Amalia? How is she? I sent Mary a while ago, but she never came.” Concern was evident in her voice.

“We are fine, I think so. I have information, about the shadows, and I have to ask for a favour.” Edward declared. “First things first, the shadows are apparently people who died and are trying to come back, but in order to do that, they need help. Ojo por ojo, diente por diente or something like that Mary said. Life for life.”

“That was why the shadow tried to take Bess.” Cleves presumed. “Why her?”

“That is something I don’t know, I’m sorry. Amalia said that as soon as she had any idea, she would be trying to come back. She is really busy, you know.”

“She is?”

“Yes, all that is happening, it’s not normal.” He rises from the bed. “Now, let’s go, I need help.”

Anna decides not to ask, instead just making him get out of the room so she can get into more comfortable clothes. Once she is dressed, they go downstairs, where not surprisingly Anne Boleyn is sitting.

“Anne? What are you doing?”

The other queen looks surprised for a moment and Anna registers how she is dressed. For the first time Boleyn is not hiding her neck, instead a gruesome scar is showing, going around her whole neck. Anne tries to hide it as soon as she can react.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She says, voice harsher than normal.

“I’m going for a walk, I can’t sleep.” Cleves says easily.

Edward is growing closer to Anne, who puts the blanket closer to her. The young deceased prince is looking at the beheaded queen, inspecting her. His hands urge to touch her, but he doesn’t.

“I have to go, if you need anything, call me!” Anna waves goodbye.

She gets to the street and waits for the boy a moment.

“What was it?” The German asks.

“I never saw how much she looked like Zab.” Edward explained while starting to walk through the streets. “I mean, she reincarnated and it’s not the same, but there is still a way to move, and talk. I never knew were those modals came from.”

“It’s normal, she was dead when you were born.” Anna stated, as obvious.

“Yes, it’s true.”

They fall into a comfortable silence while walking through the streets of London. Of course, Anna met Edward long ago, she was there to see his reign, and his death.

Anna might have been the divorcee, but she was also the one to know all the queens and their kids. She even remembered hearing about Mary Seymour. It was an advantage to know their stories, to know were they came from. At the same time, Anna had to see it all, the good, the bad, the death.

Cleves sometimes has a nightmare, and it’s always the same one.

(…)

“Are you ready? London! Here we go!”

Anna can’t move, but her body does. It’s not her mind moving it, and it’s getting hard to realize she is still in scene.

“Cleves? Are you okay?” Katherine asks.

She slowly takes her hand in her own, and then takes the other hand and lets it resting on her back.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again, your Majesty.”

They are not longer in London, nor in the twenty-one century, instead they are back in court. Katherine dress is white, with golden details. She has a necklace with a cross, and her hair is not longer pink. They are slowly dancing a waltz she remembers from her time in Germany.

Katherine dress feels softer every move they make, and when Anna realizes it’s not longer a cream white, but it rather looks dirty. It’s not a dress anymore, but rather a long robe.

“No!” Boleyn screams, but Anna can’t see her.

“Anna!” Cathy calls for her.

When she turns, the survivor is on the floor, dress stained red with blood. Anna runs to her side, and when she tries to touch her it’s not longer Cathy in pain, but Jane. Cleves looks for Katherine, trying to ask for help.

But it’s not Katherine, is Anne in the dirty white robe, she takes off her choker and her head rolls, no longer attached to her body.

(…)

“We are here.” Edward announces.

“A house? What are we doing here?”

“I wrote letters to my mother. I know, it’s childish and I shouldn’t have done it…”

“It’s not. You never had the chance to talk to her.” Anna interrupts.

“That’s why it is childish. I never met her; how can I miss someone I never met?” His voice breaks.

“Because she is your mother, and you always knew how much she loved you.” Cleves offers a smile.

Not having in her options reaching the ghosts is driving her crazy, but she knows better. The feeling of coldness, so strong that numbs your limbs it’s not something she can say she enjoys.

“Where are the letters?”

He makes a noise.

“Edward?”

“There is this historian who found them.”

“What? You expect me to break in?” She asks in dismay.

“Would it really be considered breaking in?” He questions.

“Yes, Edward! Yes!”

She pinches the bridge of her nose.

“Okay, how can I get in?”

“Thank you!” He grins. “I have been here for months, and I realized he doesn’t lock up the backyard door. Once you get into the house, you must go to the basement, there is an alarm, the password is 1553. I will come with you.”

Anna inspects the house for a moment. Walking into the backyard was supposed to be easy, except there is a dog. The animal just stares at her and she is afraid it might bark, alerting his owner.

“Hi boo!” The teenager calls, the dog moves his tail.

“He can see you?” Anna is surprised.

“Of course! Animals can see spirits.”

“I will try to not take that as a personal insult.” She mocks a laugh.

Opening the door, she doubts for a moment before finding the stairs. Going down the basement is cold, perfect to preserve old books and documents. The feeling of unease is there, and she knows what she is doing is wrong, but keeps going. Setting the password in the panel of the alarm, she starts looking for the papers.

“At your right!” Edward shouts.

She finds a wooden box, and wishes she had a backpack with her. She opens it and saves the letters between her clothes.

“Who is there?” An unknown voice calls.

“Fuck.”

(…)

Anna of Cleves, fourth wife to the king of England is sitting outside the police station when the rest of the queens arrive.

“Next time, count me down for your nightly adventures!” Boleyn playfully jokes.

“No more midnight adventures, capisci?” Aragon scowls.

“What were you doing?” Jane questions on a softer voice.

“I don’t know.” Anna lies. “I wasn’t aware, I went outside and suddenly I was there.”

“How do we go from here?” The third queen asks a policeman who is sitting with Anna.

“We discovered him; he stole historical documents. All the things he had were brought from the secret services, if it wasn’t for today’s incident we wouldn’t have known.” He looks at Anna. “For what we saw, she didn’t cause any harm. Considering who you are,” he addresses the six queens. “we will let her go with a warning. If this happens again…”

“It won’t.” Parr assures.

“Goodnight ladies.”

The six get back into the car. Aragon complaining about being awoken in the middle of the night, and Jane asking Anna if everything was okay. Katherine had a worried look plastered on her face, and Anne was almost sleeping beside her cousin. Parr was just writing on her phone. Anna couldn’t be happier about the fact that she got to escape, even if she had to listen to Aragon for the rest of the trip.

“Babe, everything alright?” Cleves asks Katherine while they enter the shared house.

“I’m just anxious. What if there is something wrong? What if you waking up in a house with historical documents has something to do with us reincarnating?” The younger queen explains.

“I don’t think you have to worry about it, after all, I’m the only one who went through it.” Anna tries to calm down her friend. “It is all good.”

Katherine nods, and gets ahead, reaching Anne.

“Jane, can I talk to you?” Anna asks.

“Yes, of course. What’s happening, love?” Jane smiles.

Cleves can see Edward behind his mother. “I found these.” She pulls out the paper. “Edward told me about them in our past life. I looked for them and here they are.” Anna explained nervously. “Edward left these letters for you.”

The other queen hugged her almost instantly, quietly sobbing. Anna looked up to Edward who was smiling. A white light started to expand from him.

“It’s finally happening! Goodbye Anna!” The teenager screamed.

The light went out with a flash so bright Anna had to close her eyes, and just like that Edward was gone to rest in peace for the first time in his life.

(…)

“Do you think something is going on with Anna?”

“I’m sure she is just fine, godmother.” Parr replies.

“I hate to admit it, but I support Aragon in this one.” Boleyn declares. “She sometimes acts weird, stares at the nothing, wakes up in the middle of the night for a “walk”.”

“And how do you know she wakes up in the night unless you are awake too?” The survivor questions.

“Don’t be like that, Cathy.” Katherine tries to calm the queens. “I do believe that all of us have problems since we reincarnated, and maybe Anna is just going through a rough one.”

“She will come to us when she needs help, I trust her.” Jane adds.

“I trust her too.” Katherine says, smiling.

(…)

Anna of Cleves was sitting in her bedroom, trying to understand what she knew about ghosts. She longed to be with Amalia, having the chance to discover all of it with her sister and help her fighting whatever was happening with the spirits, but she couldn’t communicate, nor knew where her only present (because, clearly, she was not living) relative went.

Even with a feeling of unease, she decided to just rest a moment in her room, trying to take off her mind from what was happening and focusing on her life.

The show was doing great, the swings were of so much help and the ladies-in-waiting were getting better. Even the relationship with the queens was smoother, growing used to each other presence in the past months.

Maybe she shouldn’t worry so much.

(…)

The first time she notices it, there is a spirit or something behind Anne, but as soon as she settles her eyes on it, it disappears.

They are in the kitchen, Anna being the last to get up from bed, and went to find the rest of the queens already having lunch.

“Queen of the castle, everything alright over there?” Katherine questioned.

“Yes, fine. Just slept more than I should have I think.” She answers, trying to sound normal.

“I want to go out today, maybe to the park, can we?” The youngest queen asks.

“I don’t think so Kitty, I have things to do.” Her cousin replies.

“Thing? What do you have to do?” Anne gives Jane a nasty look. “Nevermind. I have to go to the grocery store, Aragon is coming with me, you can tag along.”

“I hate grocery shopping.” Kat snorts.

“That’s just because you hate being told no when you ask for every cereal in the aisle.” Aragon reprimands.

The fifth queen rolls her eyes but laughs.

“What about you guys?” She says, addressing Anna and Cathy.

“I want to write something, maybe later or tomorrow we can do something.”

“I’m free, and I think it could be good.” Cleves winks an eye to Howard.

For a moment she is sure the ghost is back, something red and golden looking, but as soon as a blink of an eye it disappears again.

(…)

“It’s fucking great to be outside.” Katherine says, smiling.

“Never thought you were a common fuck-sayer.” Anna laughs.

“I’m not, most of the time. Never around Jane.”

“None of us say ‘fuck’ around Jane, it’s like the first rule of the house.”

“Tell that to Anne.” The beheaded smiles. “Anyway, it’s good to be outside once in a while. I don’t know how they do to stay in the house all the time.”

“I do. Confinement is great.”

“Sure, that’s why you get lost in the middle of the night.”

Just like that, Kat stopped the lighthearted conversation they were having until that point.

“I didn’t mean it.” The German whispers.

“You sound like Anne.” She tried to take back the conversation from something not so serious. “I’m just worried about you. I love you and I don’t want anything bad happening to you.”

I love you.

Those were words Anna of Cleves wasn’t used to heard. In fact, it was the first time someone said that to her in the new century.

She often thought that it wasn’t meant for her. Love wasn’t for everyone, or so she learnt. Laugh about an idiot king and his utterly blindness was something they did almost nightly in the show, but it wasn’t just that for her, probably for any of them. In the past, it grew into her, the idea of being unlovable. She had too many flaws, scars, problems. She wasn’t elegant as Catherine, pretty like Jane, or smart like Anne. The fourth queen wasn’t enough, Henry told her so about a million times. And she felt like that.

“You love me?” Cleves asks, in disbelief.

“Yes, why wouldn’t I?”

(…)

Ice cream was always a good idea, except for when you went looking for it and a ghost appeared. Anna tried to focus as fast as she could, but just catches a glimpse of red, no golden this time. Cleves was scared to some point, all the ghosts before had just showed up and talked to her. Why would this one hide?

Luckily, being out with Katherine gave her something to entertain her mind, eating her Oreo ice cone while playing asking questions to each other.

Howard was someone really smart, even if she tried to never let it shine through, just like Anne. She loved talking about history, and knew a lot about it, maybe as much or even more than Parr. Anna could listen to her hours without getting tired. In other days, she might have said Katherine Howard had bewitched her, but now she was sure it was all her own fault for being unable to distract herself outside the other queen.

Between Katherine Howard and ghosts, Anna was surely having her mind full.

(…)

“Anna.” A voice calls.

“Who are you?” She jumps from the bed, the red silhouette there.

It doesn’t say a word, but instead gets out of the bedroom, with Anna following rapidly. Before she can realize they are back to the living room.

“Anna? Why are you awake? Go back to bed!” Anne says, behind her the red spirit.

It takes her a moment before realizing who she was. And when she does, tears full her eyes.

“Elizabeth.” Cleves whispers.

“Elizabeth?” Anne is suddenly pale, blood drowned from her face. “What are you talking about?”

The German knows she has only two choices, the lie or the truth. She knows that the lie might protect her friend and fellow queen, but at the same time she was just growing tired every night. Not being able to just explain what was going on and having to see all these faces after all the time she had been away. Anna of Cleves breaks into sobbing, slowly giving up.

“I can see ghosts.” She buzzes.

“What? Anna you must be tired, please go back to sleep.”

Anne tries to touch her, but the other queen moves quickly her arm.

“I’m not, I swear is true.”

“Tell her you can see me.” Elizabeth talks.

“I can see Elizabeth.” Anna starts. “She is behind you, standing.”

“Tell her I love her.”

“She says she loves- “

“Stop! You have no right to you make things up Anna.” Her voice is cold, colder than what Anna ever heard Boleyn. “Go to your room, you are probably hallucinating.”

“I am not! Anne, please!” Anna is shouting, feeling powerless against the convictions of the second queen.

“Let me take you to bed.”

Anne takes her hands into her own and slowly guides her to stand up. Up until that point Anna didn’t realized her legs had given up. Going up to her bedroom seems like a heavy task, mostly with sensing how tense Anne had become. Once they arrive to the floor, Anna can hear a noise coming from Katherine’s bedroom. She quickly runs there, Anne behind her confused.

A black shadow, just like the first one they saw is there. No face, just a empty void. It’s near Katherine, almost touching her, but then a voice sound.

Go, go, go.

“Katherine, what’s going on?”

The younger queen slowly stands up, eyes fixed at the nothing. She walks to the window, and passes a leg.

Jump, jump, jump.

“No!” Anna screams, trying to hold Katherine. “Anne, help me!”

Boleyn is just watching the scene, not quite understanding what was going on, with her mind feeling foggy.

“Who are you?” Anna asks to the shadow. “What are you?”

She prays it works.

The second queen suddenly realizes what her cousin was going to do, and runs to the window, trying to get her. She puts so much strength in her embrace, that her nails cuts through Kat tanned skin. Ths shadow becomes just a little more visible, for a second when some blood drips from Katherine’s arm.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Dereham.” The shadow says, and Anna can recognize a presumptuous smile.

“Get away!” Elizabeth claims.

Anne is still forcing Katherine to stay in the ground, when they hit the table. An almost empty candle flies above the room, landing on the shadow. Both, the fire from the candle and Francis Dereham disappear when they touch each other.

“What was that?” Jane asks, getting into the room.

“We don’t know.” Anna is quick to reply, giving her fellow queen a look.

“We were just going to Anna’s bedroom and Katherine tried to jump from the window, but I’m not sure she tried to do so.” Boleyn explains, not saying a thing about seeing ghosts.

“Is everything okay?” Cathy questions, getting into the room, followed by Aragon.

“Clearly, it is not, Parr.” Anne returns.

Katherine still lays unconscious on the ground.

“We have problems.” Elizabeth says.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are really appreciated! also come say hi on tumblr! (lessix)


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